RIP Michael Jackson

Well, Michael Jackson's death is everywhere right now. The combined resources of all of the world's medias are focusing on Michael Jackson and his accomplishment.

The first wind of this news I got from watching the 6 o'clock CityTV news. "Michael Jackson has died." I was like, well, okay, that's interesting, but I don't really care. Get on with the news please. I basically dismissed Michael Jackson. But now this thing had a few days to sink in, and I thought about it some more, I realized how enormous he was and how big of a reach he had in the world.

Michael Jackson was an enormous star. When people said that he was an enormous worldwide star, that is not a joke or an exaggeration in the slightest. I remember back in early to mid-90s China, before I immigrated, Michael Jackson was as everywhere as you can be when you are a American musician in mid-90s China. If there's one western musician that I, and everyone else in China knew, it was Michael Jackson. No one there knew or cared who the Beatles were, who Metallica were, who Madonna or any other western artists were; if it's foreign music, it was all about Michael Jackson, because everyone just KNEW who Michael Jackson was.

Some say that in the 80s, when China went through the reforms that opened it to the outside world, Michael Jackson songs were the first thing that Chinese people heard from the west. Thriller, Michael Jackson's finest album, was released just as the collective Chinese consciousness turned outside its borders and thirsted for contact and foreign culture. And that was a damn good opener to an entirely new, alien, and foreign culture for many Chinese people. Some would say that Michael Jackson was the backdrop and his songs are associated with one of the most pivotal moments in China's history.

I remember listening to Michael Jackson songs and watching his music videos when I was 6 or 7 back in Chongqing. I didn't understand more than a few words in the songs, but the songs were catchy as hell and absolutely amazing. I began to recorded as many of his songs as I can to blank cassettes with my grandmother's ghettoblaster at her place and played them at the ghettoblasters of whichever relative I was visiting at the time.

Eventually my aunt from America gave me a Sony Walkman cassette player when I was 7. My goodness that was a high quality piece of machine from America, I thought. It was the first time that I have ever heard my beloved Michael Jackson ghetto tapes in stereo. I played my recorded Michael Jackson tunes everywhere I went. Michael Jackson was the only music that I knew or cared for, not because it was the only thing I knew, but because his tunes were so good, it was nuts, and honestly, I did NOT care for music back then, at all. That Walkman was one of the few things that I brought to Canada when I immigrated here, and I think I still have it today.

Michael Jackson had such a huge worldwide reach and impact on the culture and history of the world. People in China, Communist China for god's sakes, were jamming to Michael Jackson tunes. Think about that. The difference between the culture of China and America, especially fifteen years ago, is gigantic, but Michael Jackson's music had appeal to everyone in China. My grandparents fought against the Japanese, they're old school as heck, they don't understand the west or the world outside communist China, didn't know (still don't know) that World War II was ended when the Americans dropped the bomb, and THEY WERE JAMMING TO MICHAEL JACKSON.

I just wanted to share that how big a reach Michael Jackson had and how he affected my life. It was definitely nostalgic to listen to his songs on Youtube again and reminded me of a part of my heritage and upbringing and an important part of my life. It's easy to forget how big he was, especially with him not making a song for ages and the weird stuff he gets himself into, but trust me, he had a HUGE reach across the world, and I'm sure almost everyone in the world can associate a part of their life to Michael Jackson songs.